Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly censures Tara Cheyne
The Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory in Australia has censured Minister for City and Government Services Tara Cheyne over reduced opening hours at public libraries. The decision was supported by 13 lawmakers, while 10 voted against it, ABC News reports.
Reason for the censure
The Canberra Liberals initiated the motion. Initially, the document also concerned an error that called into question thousands of seatbelt fines, but this point was removed from the final text.
Opposition Leader Mark Parton said that Cheyne had ignored a resolution adopted by the assembly in June. It called on the government to suspend the closure of public libraries on Sundays. The censure was supported by the Liberals, the Greens and independent lawmaker Fiona Carrick.
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Position of the minister and lawmakers
Cheyne, who spoke emotionally in the assembly, defended her work and said that she had openly explained the operational constraints faced by libraries. According to her, the government is considering options to restore weekend operations at some libraries next year. These include priority access to the Kippax and Erindale branches on weekends from July 2027.
In a subsequent statement, the minister said that the government would continue modernising Canberra's library services, while an assessment of library opening hours would be released by March 2027. Deputy Chief Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith called it unusual to censure a minister for doing her job.
Independent lawmaker Thomas Emerson unsuccessfully proposed replacing the censure with a milder admonition. In his view, censure should be used only in cases of clear government incompetence; otherwise, such motions could lose their meaning. Censure is a severe but largely symbolic form of parliamentary reprimand that has no further consequences beyond reputational ones. Cheyne became the third Labor Party minister censured by the assembly during the current term, after Yvette Berry and Chris Steel.
